The present invention relates generally to lasers, and more particularly, to a self-aligning intracavity Raman laser.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,943 assigned to the assignee of the present invention discloses a three mirror intracavity laser that provides acceptable beam quality and output energy, but has inherent problems in aligning three mirrors that are included therein. The intracavity resonator design of U.S. Pat. No. 4,933,943 is a resonator comprising of three flat mirrors and these mirrors are very difficult to align and keep aligned, in practice. In particular, this alignment problem is a source of concern regarding the producibility and reliability of production lasers employing the intracavity resonator design.
More specifically, in this intracavity resonator design, alignment problems manifested in a variety of ways, including the following. Misalignment of the three mirrors beyond 100 .mu.rad may occur in a harsh military environment, which causes degradation and beam steering of the laser output beam. Rod wedging due to thermal effects causes misalignment, thus limiting the pulse repetition rate of the laser. Alignment of the laser requires special tooling, including an interferometer or autocollimator, and a skilled technician, which increases manufacturing costs. Because of the alignment sensitivity, optical alignment wedges and a heavy, rigid optical bench are used in the laser that further increase the production cost of the laser.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to provide for a laser that is self-aligning and thus minimizes the above-cited problems.